Why do turkeys gobble?
Only male turkeys, or toms, can gobble, and they mostly do it in the spring and fall. It is a mating call and attracts the hens. Wild turkeys gobble at loud sounds and when they settle in for the night.
Can turkeys fly?
Turkeys raised on turkey farms cannot fly. Wild turkeys can fly short distances at up to 55 miles per hour.
What’s the difference between a sweet potato and a yam?
Literally and botanically speaking, the two are not related. Yams are large, starchy, edible tuberous roots that can grow two to three feet long and weigh as much as 80 pounds. They grow in tropical/subtropical countries and need eight to ten months of warm weather to mature. The two words became entwined in our household vernacular partly through a publicity campaign. Early in this century, sweet-potato promoters attached the word yam to the deep orange, moist-fleshed varieties and left the words sweet potato to the smaller, yellowish, dry-fleshed varieties. Today it is common to find either or both words used in supermarkets, but whichever is used, what’s on sale is the sweet potato.
What’s the story on cranberries?
The cranberry is a genuine Native American, Vaccinium macrocarpon, a member of the heath family and a relative of the blueberry and huckleberry. The Pequot Indians of Cape Cod called the berry ibimi, meaning bitter berry, and combined crushed cranberries with dried venison and fat to make pemmican.
The Pilgrims and those who followed appreciated the wild berries but did not start to cultivate them until 1816, when a bog was planted and tended in Dennis on Cape Cod. By then, American and Canadian sailors on long voyages knew they could eat cranberries to protect themselves from scurvy — making them a cranberry counterpart to British “limeys.”
Which was the first department store to sponsor a Thanksgiving parade?
Nope, it wasn’t Macy’s. In 1920, Gimbel’s held the very first Thanksgiving day parade. Macy’s first parade occurred in 1924.
Which President moved the holiday up by a week to help stimulate the Christmas shopping economy?
It was Franklin Roosevelt. But this tactic was not well accepted, and in 1941, Congress made Thanksgiving a federal holiday that would always fall on the fourth Thursday in November.
Why is a male turkey referred to as a Tom turkey?
Benjamin Franklin proposed the turkey as our national bird, but when Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea, Franklin mockingly called the turkey “Tom”.
When was the first Thanksgiving Day football game played?
This tradition was started in 1934 by the Detroit Lions, when they played the Chicago Bears.
Filed under: History | Tagged: holidays, tradition | 3 Comments »
The illuminated Haggadah
People of the Book is not a page turner, a suspense novel, or an adventure story. Author Brooks has taken what little is known about the Sarajevo Haggadah, with a focus on a few tiny artifacts evidently left behind, inadvertently, by some of the people who handled it in the past. The skeleton of the story hangs upon the stabilization of the book by Hanna Heath, a book conservationist working in the 1990’s. As she discovers such minutia as a feather, a stain, and an insect wing, the author inserts compelling chapters in which their presence might be explained. It is these chapters, which begin during the second world war and gradually regress to the early medieval period, that make People the compelling historical novel that it is. The history of the Haggadah parallels that of the persecution of the Jews, but many of the major characters in each era are Christian or Muslim. In the end, it becomes clear that the production and preservation of a great religious work of art relies on the cooperative efforts of people of many faiths. This is a message that could not be more timely, and this is a book that is a pleasure to read and ponder.
Breakheart Hill, narrated by a now middle aged man, is the story of his first love. Ben Wade falls hard for the new girl in town, Kelli Troy, but is too shy to assert himself to her. Ben’s best friend counsels him to make a move, but to no avail. Kelli eventually falls for the school’s top athlete, and breaks Ben’s heart. Shortly thereafter, someone assaults Kelli and leaves her for dead. Thirty years later, the classmates who have stayed in their hometown are still coping with the aftermath of the trauma of her loss. Author Cook knows how to build suspense, page by page. Using a circular pattern of suggesting possibilities and then revealing them, the reader is drawn into Ben’s obsession with the object of his newly born adult desires. It is the slow, relentless crescendo of anticipation that makes this book the success it is. One must recall one’s own adolescence to understand Ben’s fixation, which is extreme, because there truly is nothing special about Kelli to a dispassionate observer, and at times, he becomes annoying. But Cook does a masterful job of portraying the unspoken complicity of those who were most closely involved at the time. Disaster does not develop in a vacuum, and in this tale, at least, the players must eventually face up to and shoulder their share of responsiblity for what happened to Kelli.
Right minded
There’s nothing deep or literary about Lost in Austen. It’s a time travel tale that incorporates all the standard glitches, as 21st century Amanda tries to navigate her way around the style and conventions of the 19th century. Because she curls up with Austen every time she feels stressed, Amanda knows what should be happening in this strange new (old) world, but somehow, the characters simply won’t behave as planned.
**** 
learns, never makes life-enhancing choices, never grows. Kind of like Ground Hog Day. In this 15th episode, the plot, such as it is, descends into slapstick. Once an author resorts to fat and fart humor to serve as the central mechanism to moving along the story, you know she’s running out of ideas. This outing revolves loosely around Lula, who, having witnessed a murder, is in constant danger from the perps. A secondary thread concerns a string of robberies in establishments protected by Rangeman Securities. Not one, but at least four vehicles are bombed to smithereens. And formerly beloved characters are reduced to caricature. Narrator Lorelei King does her usual professional best, but not even she can save this farce. Here’s hoping Ms. Evanovich breaks her own rule and brings about some much needed change in Steph’s life.
